Do you ignore barking or address it?

Question

If I play with my puppy and then we're done and we leave her alone in her area, she gets separation anxiety,
or wants to play more and barks because of it. It's very loud. If we ignore it she eventually stops, but it takes a while. Or we can address it by doing the Cesar Millan thing and "shh" and snapping fingers and she stops, but then starts up again when we sit down, so I have to go back and do it again and again. I am wondering if doing that would be considered attention to her and any attention is better than none....or if ignoring it will work better and she will eventually learn that barking won't get our attention, even though we
have to sit there and listen to that piercing bark.

Answer 1

I had this problem with my 3 month old puppy. People told me to ignore it, including my vet, but giving your pup the cold shoulder, in my opinion, doesn't seem to do the trick. Yes, when you finally give in and cater to the poor thing, after hours of his endless skrieking, you are rewarding his barking with your attention, and thats no good. What's a pup parent to do?

Experiment! There's no set way I can tell you to stop your puppy from doin' what puppies do best. Lots of people tried giving me advice, saying its sure to work, but the best thing I can tell you is try different things out. For example: What worked for my puppy was to preoccupy him with something else--a toy, something to chew on, or even playing the radio. What i also found to work was to shake a pop can filled with thumb tacks to distracted the little bugger for a few minutes. Surprisingly this worked for me, but take note it was a true shocker.

I also found that taking the pup outside or playing with him to tire him out before we left the house was fairly successful. There are also bark collars and spray bottles you can use, but it all depends on how far you really need to take things. So, like I mentioned before, experiment and best of luck!

Answer 2

There are two separate issues here. One is barking for attention, and the other is separation anxiety.

Dogs bark, and should be allowed to do so within reason (not excessively obviously).

Barking for attention is fairly easy to deal with = stop giving attention! It works like this....
The puppy barks for attention. You either go comfort her, or go correct her, or tell he to be quiet etc. By doing ANY of these things you are giving her attention, so you are rewarding the behaviour.
If the puppy barks for attention you should completely ignore it. Do not go to, touch, talk to or even look at her. It does take a little while but it is the most effective way of getting her to stop. As soon as she has learned that all attention stops when she barks, she will stop doing it.

However, because this method works by removing the reward, it only works when whe is barking to get attention.

If she is barking for another reason, e.g. at the postman etc then you need a different method.

Teaching the "shh" or "quiet" command is good ( a command, not a reprimand) as you can get her to be quiet whenever.

True separation anxiety (SA) is a different matter entirely. If this is the case the dog is barking because she is anxious, afraid and stressed. Barking is self-rewarding because it offers her a form of stress-relief.

For SA, you really need to address the problem not the symptom - in other words overcome her anxiety at being alone, rather than correct the barking.

Punishing a dog for barking caused by anxiety will only make the dog MORE anxious and afraid. Not only will she be afraid of beng alone like she was before, but she will now be even more afraid because she associates being left alone with punishment. This will either make the problem worse, or cause it to be redirected (eg she may do another stress-relieving behaviour instead such as destructiveness or self-harm).

Answer 3

It really depends on the dog.
I'm raising a rescue Collie with serious seperation anxiety, her old owners didn't really have time for her so she is starved for attention and never wants to be left alone again. She barks herself hoarse whenever she's left alone and her old owners always came back to try and make her be quiet, so she learned that barking will get her human to come back. Re-training her is taking a LOT of work, but she's starting to get the idea that barking is not going to help her at all. However, some dogs will just get worse if they are not corrected, so there really isn't one right way to teach them to be quiet.

Answer 4

We had the same problem with our puppy. Don't address it. After about one or two weeks the barking will stop. You probably shouldn't play with it, then just leave. Play for a while, then relax and cam down before you leave the dog alone.

Answer 5

I had an identical difficulty with my domestic dog once I first have been given him. i attempted to get him used to it in steps and it labored especially plenty and somewhat at as quickly as. a million. once I first have been given him I sat him in the cage with the door open and merely form of blocked him from getting out till he gave up and settled down. this form you are able to puppy him and enable him understand that he's great at the same time as he's attempting to fall asleep. 2. whilst he does finally visit sleep I close the door. This regularly woke him up and of direction he could initiate whining and barking returned. whilst he does this merely sit down via the cage with him and stay very comfortable because of the fact the dogs can experience once you're annoying from the barking. He at last calmed down and fell returned asleep. 3. whilst he's getting used to the cage, he won't have the skill to sleep in the time of the night. whilst he wakes up enable him out to apply the bathing room and repeat the technique. This does make for some nights with little sleep besides the undeniable fact that it does repay in the top. It took my dogs basically approximately 2 weeks to absolutely sleep in the time of the night. one subject that labored once I first have been given him grew to become into to sleep beside the cage. That way whilst he does awaken he will understand that he's not on my own and could even pass returned to sleep. domestic canines are used to sleeping with their clutter buddies and get lonely whilst they are without notice taken from them. i desire this permits and understand that the main extreme subject is to attend and notice because of the fact this does take it sluggish.

Answer 6

I would say that it depends on why my dog is barking.....excited to be going outside barking...or barking like someone is around that shouldn't be.....then we check it out.

Answer 7

scientific research has shown that if dogs are in a household with another dog, there life is less stressful, and they behave better. if you can, you should consider getting him a companion. if you get another dog, make sure they are both, spayed, or neutered.

Answer 8

problem here is PUPPY,, you play with her and wind her up,, she isn't ready to stop..... try to wind down your play time with some quiet time before you leave her alone.... and by the way?? why are you leaving her alone??

Answer 9

I do not allow my dogs to bark, so I would bring her in and possible put her in a crate.

Answer 10

I address it....I just simply say quiet when they do!